Lee Holdsworth has signed a contract extension with Charlie Schwerkolt Racing and will remain with the team in the Supercars Championship for a further two years.

The new contract will extend the Melbourne driver’s partnership with the forklift magnate, which began in 2015 when Schwerkolt campaigned a Holden Commodore run out of the Walkinshaw Racing stable. The pair remained together when Walkinshaw Racing downsized to its two Holden Racing Team cars and Schwerkolt opted to set up his own team.

The partnership looked to be gelling well in the mid-season when Holdsworth claimed a season’s best eighth-placed finish in the Saturday race at Hidden Valley, only for the 33-year-old to crash heavily on the opening lap of the Sunday race. He suffered fractures to his pelvis, right knee and two ribs in the heavy shunt and missed the following rounds in Townsville, Ipswich and Sydney Motorsport Park.

He returned to driving action at the Sandown 500 alongside co-driver Karl Reindler, with the pair finishing an encouraging twelfth.

“It’s great to sign a multi-year contract,” said Holdsworth. “After all the blood sweat and tears put in from everyone involved, I’m looking forward to helping the team reach its true potential over the next few seasons. It’s awesome to have some continuity heading into next year.”

“I am extremely excited to have Lee re-signed for a two-year extension, it is great for continuity of both team and driver partnership together,” added team owner Schwerkolt.

“Lee is a great ambassador for our brand, a special person and also a mate and I am very proud to have him to continue on this journey together. We are really excited about getting results for the future and the next two years.”